Ed Bacon

Notes on the Drawings

This was the set up for a series of drawings I made using a very controlled system. Pens are attached to the two yellow trucks. The wooden barrier can be positioned in many different configurations and this determines the shape. The trucks are able to go forwards and backwards but there is no actual steering mechanism. In this work I was following a number of artist who have used chance procedures in a rigid format. The marks made by the pens attached to the trucks seem to be tentative and delicate but he little vehicles charge around in a fairly impetuous state of agitation. It is hard to make them do what you want. In this way the artist has to relinquish control and leave some effects to fate. I had wanted to use cars that determined their own direction but the drawings produced in this setup retain something of the hand of the artist!